SHOW NOTES:

Balancing the dark and the light

TWO lead singers??

Treats for answering questions

Being punk enough

There’s no one way to be in a band

I heard a story about Sonic Youth once - no idea if it’s true. KIM GORDON CAN YOU CONFIRM??

SHOW LINKS:

If you or someone you know needs help (trafficking)

Iron Roses new album Aug 6!

Body count music video with wow shirt

On tour this fall

IG & FB /// @theironroses

Spotify /// https://bit.ly/4u1Ug9W

Linktr.ee /// https://linktr.ee/theironroses 

SHAWNA’S LINKS:

shawnapotter.com

NEW WAR ON WOMEN ALBUM: https://smartpunk.com/collections/war-on-women

The new Safer Spaces: Online Course: https://shawnapotter.com/safer-spaces-course

Making Spaces Safer book: https://www.akpress.org/making-spaces-safer-book.html

Request fun video messages: https://www.cameo.com/shawnapotterwow

All things War On Women: linktr.ee/waronwomen 

https://www.youtube.com/@shawnapotter

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: (pulled from Youtube, please excuse any errors)

Welcome to But Her Lyrics...the show where we delve into the political lyrics of songs I like, songs I wrote, or topics that I think should be a song. I’m Shawna Potter, singer and lyricist for War On Women - and your host. Today we’re talking to both Natasha Gray and Becky Fontaine of the band The Iron Roses, who are getting a lot of great tours lately, so stoked for them. I have known Natasha for a while now and we get into that during our chat, so super excited to catch up with her because it’s been a minute. Very happy for their recent attention and success. 

By the time you’re hearing this, I am probably already on tour in Europe which I am very excited about, playing songs from our new record over there. So just picture me trying to hunt down ice coffee in the land, where we, WOW, refer to ice as European Diamonds, bc they are so rare and so precious. You can help me on this quest by supporting my patreon

PATREON:

Yeah, your support helps me do all the things I love to do: make this podcast, take Intimacy Coordinator jobs that don’t pay the bills (but are worth doing for the story, the experience, the people), and go on Indiana Jones-style adventures to find ice coffee in western Europe. You can always make requests for content you want to see, I am flexible. Thank you to my current patrons for sticking with me, I appreciate you and all the adorable pet pics you share in our shared group chat.

OK, we’re about to dig into TIR’s “Body Count” - what I thought it was about and what it’s actually about - quick notable fun thing that I did not mention in this interview - in the music video for this song, someone is wearing a WOW shirt: we don’t need allies, we need accomplices design. Thank you to whoever that was, what an honor to be included, super cool. Alright, let’s get to it

[Interview time.]

2:20

2 minutes, 20 seconds

Natasha Gray. Hey, hold on. I'm trying to do an intro here. Natasha Gray. Sorry.

2:25

2 minutes, 25 seconds

Becky Fontaine, welcome to But her lyrics. Thanks for joining me. Please introduce yourself to everyone. Hi. Hi. I'm Natasha.

2:33

2 minutes, 33 seconds

And I'm Becky. And we're from the Iron Roses.

2:36

2 minutes, 36 seconds

We are beautiful.

2:38

2 minutes, 38 seconds

Tell me what it's like having two singers in a band because that is not an accident. That is a decision,

2:47

2 minutes, 47 seconds

right? [laughter] Yeah, it is. It is a crazy decision to make.

2:53

2 minutes, 53 seconds

And um it's it's been it's been cool because it's been a lot of trying to figure out how that works. [laughter]

3:02

3 minutes, 2 seconds

Um cuz usually if you have something like that, it's usually like in a hardcore band where you have the singer

3:10

3 minutes, 10 seconds

and the screamer, you know, and for us obviously that's not how we utilize that. Um,

3:19

3 minutes, 19 seconds

and I think on this new album, it was a lot of figuring out how do we not just have me singing the melody, her singing

3:27

3 minutes, 27 seconds

the harmony, and making it more of a co-front person

3:33

3 minutes, 33 seconds

thing because otherwise it just becomes Becky being seen as the backup singer, you know?

3:42

3 minutes, 42 seconds

So, I think with this album, we really came into how do we figure out

3:51

3 minutes, 51 seconds

throughout it all, how we switch in and out of who's singing the melodies, who's singing the harmonies, how we mix it to

3:58

3 minutes, 58 seconds

where it comes across as we are both singing and in the forefront. Um,

4:07

4 minutes, 7 seconds

it's been it's been crazy trying to figure [laughter] out, but it's been cool, too. Like, it's like it's it's new. It's all new. It's it's very original sounding as far as I can tell.

4:18

4 minutes, 18 seconds

I mean, I've seen you live and I feel like you do a good job. Like I I felt like that I'm watching Two Front People like that that's what I was seeing, you know?

4:28

4 minutes, 28 seconds

Um, and so if that's what you're trying to get across, that is what's getting across. And even in the mix of this song Yeah. like like you know I haven't heard

4:36

4 minutes, 36 seconds

the whole album. The album isn't fully out yet, but even you know the mix of the song it feels like you're both up at the forefront.

4:43

4 minutes, 43 seconds

Um yeah, so upon first listen to this song Body Count, I thought,

4:51

4 minutes, 51 seconds

"Oh, this is a fun little song about incel bros that care about like how many people you've had sex with or whatever."

4:56

4 minutes, 56 seconds

[laughter]

4:57

4 minutes, 57 seconds

And then I was like, and I might have been getting it confused with the video for your other new song, Breathing Static, where it's like a sleepover theme. And so I was like building the

5:06

5 minutes, 6 seconds

two. And I was like, "Oh, what a fun little [ __ ] you song." And then I listened again and I was like, "No, no, no, no, no. This is more serious than

5:13

5 minutes, 13 seconds

that." Um, and then I watched the video for a body count and I was like, "Oh, not only is it like obviously the song is more serious than that, but like

5:22

5 minutes, 22 seconds

they're getting all these women in a box truck and then driving away, which I don't know how consciously you did that.

5:28

5 minutes, 28 seconds

Um, so a little trafficking, a little trafficking adjacent uh number.

5:33

5 minutes, 33 seconds

[laughter]

5:34

5 minutes, 34 seconds

Um, tell me about this song.

5:38

5 minutes, 38 seconds

This song, as any song does, took a giant journey. I think we were trying to kind of bring this idea to a song that

5:46

5 minutes, 46 seconds

we ended up not putting into the album anyway, but I knew that I wanted to speak on kind of the double entandra of

5:54

5 minutes, 54 seconds

body count being like sexual partners and then an actual body count in terms of like victims. Um, and I wanted to

6:02

6 minutes, 2 seconds

play on that, but I didn't quite know how. And I think we kind of kept coming at it a little too

6:09

6 minutes, 9 seconds

safely or we were trying to bring that idea into a song that was a little bit safer. And this was actually one of the

6:17

6 minutes, 17 seconds

later songs that we wrote um and ended up coming together with. So by that point we had gotten a

6:25

6 minutes, 25 seconds

lot more comfortable with being a little bit more um you know not saying no to any ideas like

6:34

6 minutes, 34 seconds

a little more yeah aggressive and like not shying away from the things that we all have like in terms of our experience

6:41

6 minutes, 41 seconds

or or or wants or anything like that anyway. So yeah, it was just like there's something that I need to speak to. like I have no purpose being in a

6:49

6 minutes, 49 seconds

band if I'm not speaking to things that um you know relate to myself and people like me and so it just kind of from

6:58

6 minutes, 58 seconds

there but I remember it being a um it was a painful one to to to bring together like we worked really hard on

7:05

7 minutes, 5 seconds

it [laughter] yeah both lyrically and musically I think that musically it was a big

7:13

7 minutes, 13 seconds

struggle for me as someone that does a lot of the musical writing to get that more rock and roll dirty

7:21

7 minutes, 21 seconds

like aggressive vibe instead of my usual like [laughter] you know type of feel. But

7:29

7 minutes, 29 seconds

then with the lyrics that Becky was creating, it was like, "Oh, god damn it.

7:35

7 minutes, 35 seconds

Well, I've got it." Like, I can't like Yeah, you wanted to match.

7:40

7 minutes, 40 seconds

Yeah. Yeah. It needs to match. And like so we just sat in a room going back and forth with the lyrics and the music and trying to make sure that it fit together

7:49

7 minutes, 49 seconds

perfectly with what Becky really wanted to bring out of that.

7:54

7 minutes, 54 seconds

Some are a struggle, right? Some pour out of you and some are a struggle. We have the one that's was a struggle for me on our most recent record is a song

8:03

8 minutes, 3 seconds

called Malevolence. Um and the play on that is Malevolence Male Violence. And what I ended up doing

8:12

8 minutes, 12 seconds

is just all the lyrics I had, I just like chopped it in half and made them come out more slowly. And that was like the ticket. Was was there some sort of

8:20

8 minutes, 20 seconds

like lynchpin like for if that's the right word. Um for this where you're like, "Oh, oh, there it is. We found it." Like that's what we needed to do.

8:31

8 minutes, 31 seconds

Yes. Um, but I think it was really just so I was sitting upstairs trying to

8:38

8 minutes, 38 seconds

write this song and she kept sort of stepping in and like no [laughter] be like,

8:46

8 minutes, 46 seconds

"Okay, [clears throat] I I think this." Uh-uh. [ __ ] Okay.

8:51

8 minutes, 51 seconds

[laughter]

8:52

8 minutes, 52 seconds

That is so relatable. I totally do that to birth sometimes. [laughter] Absolutely. Okay. Amazing. Good to know

9:00

9 minutes

that alone. it just wasn't hitting it and like and [clears throat] then I don't know it was it was the chorus

9:07

9 minutes, 7 seconds

obviously that really solidified it and then it was like writing it backwards and figuring out what the verse and

9:15

9 minutes, 15 seconds

everything would be because it was once it got that [ __ ] then the body the count the body is like lyric reference

9:24

9 minutes, 24 seconds

okay okay we're somewhere [laughter] build from there we got it yeah and I love. Yeah, chorus is great.

9:32

9 minutes, 32 seconds

Super rock and roll. And then I love the way the last line of each verse

9:39

9 minutes, 39 seconds

spills into the next like meter. Like it ends on the one instead of on the four.

9:46

9 minutes, 46 seconds

Like that's I just just a little tasty treat that I noticed that I'm appreciative [laughter] of lyrically. Um I'm sure there's not a big story around that. You're probably just

9:54

9 minutes, 54 seconds

like, "Got an idea. Let's do this." Well, there's not a big story about it, but usually those things come about cuz Becky's like, "Wait, let me try

10:02

10 minutes, 2 seconds

something real quick." We've got the mic set up and she just did that. I was like, "Well, I guess we're doing that now." [laughter] Right. What if Yeah. Like sometimes you

10:10

10 minutes, 10 seconds

don't find it. And and unless you're like, "Let me let me just try some shit." [laughter] Yeah. Yeah.

10:16

10 minutes, 16 seconds

Yeah. That's usually how Who is Who's playing the tambourine on the second chorus?

10:23

10 minutes, 23 seconds

Pedro, I think. Is it Devon? I think. Is it Devon? I think. Oh, yeah. Pedro's idea. Devon did it.

10:30

10 minutes, 30 seconds

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

10:32

10 minutes, 32 seconds

Well, great job, Devon. Um that came in and I was like, "Oh, shit." They're like, "They got it." You know, it gives it that like sort of like Yeah.

10:41

10 minutes, 41 seconds

All right.

10:42

10 minutes, 42 seconds

Yeah. And and I tambourine is harder to do well than people realize. Um, and it's something that I've always enjoyed

10:50

10 minutes, 50 seconds

like doing and nailing and then like whoever's recording us is like, "Oh, good job, Shauna." I'm always like, "Oh my god, thank you so much." [laughter] Like it's like a big deal for me. Like,

10:58

10 minutes, 58 seconds

"Oh my god, I did it." Cuz it's like it can actually be very hard to be in the pocket. And I just thought it just sounded so good on this song. So, just props props to them.

11:06

11 minutes, 6 seconds

Oh yeah. [laughter] It's and it's Devon got to step away from the drum set a couple of times on this album with like tambourine keys

11:16

11 minutes, 16 seconds

stuff like that busted ass symbols trash in in dead eyes in the chorus he

11:23

11 minutes, 23 seconds

did this thing where Pedro set up it was like two or three broken symbols on top of each other and he just sat there and smacked them like stop.

11:33

11 minutes, 33 seconds

Yeah. Love it. I love that. All right. Here's some treats for Rosie. So, she'll be quiet. Okay. Okay.

11:41

11 minutes, 41 seconds

That much better than you.

11:42

11 minutes, 42 seconds

I know. [laughter] I wish you verbalized what you were doing so I could keep all that in, but I'll have to cut it [laughter] all.

11:54

11 minutes, 54 seconds

We all deserve treats for answering questions, I think.

11:57

11 minutes, 57 seconds

Absolutely. [laughter] I especially so if people, you know, anyone that listens to this podcast regularly, which

12:04

12 minutes, 4 seconds

is like five people, so thank you to those five. Um uh anyone that knows me knows knows Warn Women knows that we are

12:12

12 minutes, 12 seconds

you know we sing about serious stuff but we're pretty like goofbally funny light people or you know and and we the three

12:21

12 minutes, 21 seconds

of us recently did an Instagram live which was really fun and we talked about that on the

12:29

12 minutes, 29 seconds

Instagram live about this idea of like balancing the darkness with the light and like singing about serious stuff but

12:36

12 minutes, 36 seconds

you So, I'm just thinking about like earlier even in this interview, you know, if someone didn't know us at all, they'd be like, "Are you like

12:44

12 minutes, 44 seconds

making light of human trafficking?" And it's like, "No, [laughter] obviously, like totally totally not."

12:50

12 minutes, 50 seconds

But there I find that balance like necessary. How do y'all approach that

12:58

12 minutes, 58 seconds

balance? Does it ever feel tricky with what you're presenting? Do you just do your thing and and and just be like, "Well, this is who we are. Deal with

13:06

13 minutes, 6 seconds

it." You know, like what's what's the thought behind [clears throat] behind this kind of thing?

13:12

13 minutes, 12 seconds

Well, I think it's it's sort of both both like with some songs we can do it like um body count. For some reason, we

13:21

13 minutes, 21 seconds

were just able to bring out that I think because the the video and everything feels also so empowering

13:29

13 minutes, 29 seconds

and like that putting a little nods to jokes and having fun with it didn't feel

13:36

13 minutes, 36 seconds

bad. It didn't feel wrong. It felt like that was part of the empowerment of it.

13:42

13 minutes, 42 seconds

Um, and Breathing Static was very easy to joke around because I mean although it's a dark and serious song, I don't

13:49

13 minutes, 49 seconds

know, it just works. Dead Eyes was the one we had an issue. Yeah.

13:53

13 minutes, 53 seconds

Like it was like Dead Eyes the video is also very serious because

14:00

14 minutes

we couldn't do it. Like it was like I can't find the joke in Palestinian children blown to pieces. You can't

14:08

14 minutes, 8 seconds

there's no joke there, you know? There's no joy to find in there. And sometimes you do have to be serious. Um, but finding that balance is also important.

14:20

14 minutes, 20 seconds

And that's what we try to do constantly in what we do is to find the balance and know when the right time is.

14:29

14 minutes, 29 seconds

Yeah. Um, I was say I think it's a lot easier to especially when it comes to like music

14:38

14 minutes, 38 seconds

videos or even marketing, quote unquote, branding yourself, any of those things, it's easier to do these types of things when it's when it's honest. And so,

14:47

14 minutes, 47 seconds

like, we just approach all of that the way we are. Um, and then it's never it's never a put on. Like, that's just

14:55

14 minutes, 55 seconds

who we are as people. But we also recognize that there are times when when you just don't like like we said with da it's like but for the most part it's just that's

15:04

15 minutes, 4 seconds

just very naturally who we are and so to not be that would be the marketing put on. Right.

15:12

15 minutes, 12 seconds

Yes. [laughter] Right. Yeah.

15:14

15 minutes, 14 seconds

Yeah. And I guess it feels like internally like creatively you're like it would feel weird if we made dead eyes a funny video. Right. Like so it's

15:23

15 minutes, 23 seconds

coming from like how you feel and what you want to do.

15:26

15 minutes, 26 seconds

Like do you have any worries about your audience or like being cancelled or [laughter] like you know like are you how much are you keeping an audience in

15:35

15 minutes, 35 seconds

mind when it comes to that sort of stuff?

15:40

15 minutes, 40 seconds

I don't know if we do at all to be honest. And I think that and that's I

15:47

15 minutes, 47 seconds

guess that's part of the whole honesty thing is if we did come to a place where someone was like

15:55

15 minutes, 55 seconds

I don't know guys like that's that's a little weird like we would already know whether we were wrong and right in that situation you

16:03

16 minutes, 3 seconds

know what I mean because it's from such an honest place it would either be oh [ __ ] oh we definitely missed the mark on

16:10

16 minutes, 10 seconds

that sorry or I don't see and this is why and we just move forward, you know, like

16:18

16 minutes, 18 seconds

it's um I I don't have a lot of worry about being cancelled. If sis straight white dudes can't get cancelled, we can't.

16:28

16 minutes, 28 seconds

[ __ ] it. Like, [laughter]

16:31

16 minutes, 31 seconds

nobody gets cancelled. It's like it's not a [ __ ] thing. Like, [laughter] there's a Well, there's a whole Well, let's not get into that. I I don't have

16:40

16 minutes, 40 seconds

enough time to get into that. [laughter] That's a whole other podcast. Well, you might be like removed from certain areas

16:46

16 minutes, 46 seconds

like some scenes or people won't want to listen to you, but that's just sort of

16:53

16 minutes, 53 seconds

the risk you take when you say things that are intense and you say things that have meaning and that you are very

17:01

17 minutes, 1 second

serious about. Um, I guess that's Yeah, I mean, I think that we get that too, like even even when we're on the road,

17:10

17 minutes, 10 seconds

right? Like we're playing shows like we are who we are here on stage too. like we are

17:17

17 minutes, 17 seconds

joking with each other like teasing each other like get intentionally like [ __ ] with our bandmates like while

17:25

17 minutes, 25 seconds

we're on stage and and stuff and and again I think that there's always not always there's often especially in places like Atlanta which seems every

17:34

17 minutes, 34 seconds

time we go there there's one there's somebody in the room that can't handle that playfulness and joyfulness and it's usually some

17:42

17 minutes, 42 seconds

drunken Yeah but it's some usually some [ __ ] that we don't want there anyway. It's never like someone that we would normally agree with calling us out, right?

17:51

17 minutes, 51 seconds

It's normally some [ __ ] like that's either the two different

17:58

17 minutes, 58 seconds

incidences in Atlanta. The first one was some woman that didn't think we were punk enough. We're not.

18:03

18 minutes, 3 seconds

Which we're not. That's not because no one [laughter] is because you can't be.

18:07

18 minutes, 7 seconds

And then the other one was a guy who I saw as Becky was making a very

18:15

18 minutes, 15 seconds

impassion speech, rolling his eyes and being a [ __ ] about it. So I called him out because and why would we want them now?

18:24

18 minutes, 24 seconds

Yeah.

18:25

18 minutes, 25 seconds

To the credit of the folks at the masquerade, they came up to us immediately. He's like, "Where is he?

18:29

18 minutes, 29 seconds

We'll kick him out." So that's good. That's lovely.

18:32

18 minutes, 32 seconds

You always get You always get whatever you put out, that's who you're going to attract back. So yeah. So,

18:42

18 minutes, 42 seconds

what kinds of questions are you so tired of

18:48

18 minutes, 48 seconds

answering in interviews slash what do you wish people would ask you all about?

18:55

18 minutes, 55 seconds

What are people just missing?

18:59

18 minutes, 59 seconds

Well, the the one question that I mean we've gotten we used to get a lot and it really died out just because of the

19:07

19 minutes, 7 seconds

separation is a lot of times in the beginning we only had interviews because people wanted to talk to me about Boy Set's Fire.

19:15

19 minutes, 15 seconds

Gotcha.

19:16

19 minutes, 16 seconds

Yeah. [laughter] It was a it was a thing where it was understandable but a little obnoxious. It's like, why did you ask to

19:25

19 minutes, 25 seconds

do an interview with this band if all you really wanted to do is talk about my other band, you know? Um,

19:32

19 minutes, 32 seconds

that's why I had like dedicated like like some of the fans are like fans, right?

19:39

19 minutes, 39 seconds

Yeah. You know, yeah, I guess I I get it. Yeah. Go ahead.

19:43

19 minutes, 43 seconds

Yeah. But it after a while that sort of died out because after a while as a band you start getting your own dedicated

19:50

19 minutes, 50 seconds

fans and not everybody's going to come over. or not everybody's going to, you know, and that's just sort of the way it works. So, since then, I don't know if

19:59

19 minutes, 59 seconds

I've heard any questions that have been obnoxious or overdone. Like, it just

20:06

20 minutes, 6 seconds

sort of we just roll. I think it's again that same thing of like you kind of get back what you put out into the world and

20:14

20 minutes, 14 seconds

like we didn't market ourselves as like

20:18

20 minutes, 18 seconds

[laughter]

20:21

20 minutes, 21 seconds

you know when we're not putting it out there as like a door to open that you know coming back. It's been really long time since we've been like or we've been

20:29

20 minutes, 29 seconds

in an interview where I've just been sitting there like, "Hi, I'm [laughter] I am too a person that is in this band."

20:39

20 minutes, 39 seconds

They're like, "Yeah." Anyway, Boys Fire is like, "Oh, okay. [laughter] Well, speaking of Boys Fire, um Natasha,

20:47

20 minutes, 47 seconds

you and I have known each other for a long time. Uh, one of War on Women's one of the first or maybe our first real

20:55

20 minutes, 55 seconds

run of shows that kind of made us a touring band versus a local band was with Boyce and and so it's it's very formative.

21:04

21 minutes, 4 seconds

Like I I remember I feel like I remember that tour really well.

21:08

21 minutes, 8 seconds

Um, and you know was great meeting all of you and having having a good time and playing punk rock shows and stuff.

21:17

21 minutes, 17 seconds

How has your lyric writing changed since I mean like cuz you were you

21:26

21 minutes, 26 seconds

started that band like how old were you when that started? Oh 24 I want to say 23 24.

21:34

21 minutes, 34 seconds

Yeah. And now you're like 28. And so like in that large [laughter] in that large breath of time

21:41

21 minutes, 41 seconds

like how how has your lyric writing changed?

21:48

21 minutes, 48 seconds

It's um that's actually a really good question. Um well thank you. End of interview. Thank you so much. Give me my award.

21:55

21 minutes, 55 seconds

Well done [laughter] you and it's done.

22:01

22 minutes, 1 second

Um, I think that the lyric writing has changed

22:08

22 minutes, 8 seconds

mostly because not so much my lyric writing has changed but because of who

22:16

22 minutes, 16 seconds

is helping me to write those lyrics that's sort of changed. So like Chad, Josh and I, or at least when like Misery

22:25

22 minutes, 25 seconds

Index came out, we sat and dove through the lyrics, like went through them and um like a group effort to like

22:33

22 minutes, 33 seconds

edit or write or it was so it was a little bit of both.

22:39

22 minutes, 39 seconds

Like I would bring a bunch of lyrics and they'd be like, you know, sort of like what Becky and I do now. Like it would be like, "Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. What What if we did this instead?

22:50

22 minutes, 50 seconds

what if this instead and then like and then there's parts where I'm stuck is like what should I do here? Um,

22:57

22 minutes, 57 seconds

now with this, I feel that it's more we're both because we're both lyricists,

23:05

23 minutes, 5 seconds

we're both bringing things to the table at the same time and trying to sort of fit them together or, you know, so it's

23:12

23 minutes, 12 seconds

not just me bringing the lyrics, which that I guess is different, you know, it's not just me going, here's a bunch

23:20

23 minutes, 20 seconds

of lyrics, fill in the spaces. Yeah. you know, it's more here's here's my part. What do you got?

23:27

23 minutes, 27 seconds

You know, and then like this is what I have. What do you got? You know, and then we'll just sort of bounce back and forth until we get a song.

23:36

23 minutes, 36 seconds

I love how there's no one way to be in a band. I know.

23:41

23 minutes, 41 seconds

It's like my favorite thing to hear how people do stuff and just be like, "Oh, I don't do it that way." That that I do do it that way. [laughter] That's cool.

23:49

23 minutes, 49 seconds

Like so neat. Like I love the story of Sonic Youth. Like Kim Gordon and Thirst Moore would write all the lyrics

23:57

23 minutes, 57 seconds

together to every song and then they would choose who sang what song after it was written.

24:04

24 minutes, 4 seconds

And that's why like Kim always had like the weirder songs in a way like like Thirsten just didn't want the weird ones or something. I [laughter] don't know.

24:12

24 minutes, 12 seconds

Um and I'm just like yeah great. Why not? So weird. Um, now Becky, I probably asked you this on the Insta Live, but

24:20

24 minutes, 20 seconds

like like this is not your first band or musical project. Like

24:27

24 minutes, 27 seconds

tell me how you came like what what happened before the Iron Roses for you.

24:33

24 minutes, 33 seconds

[laughter]

24:34

24 minutes, 34 seconds

Um, [clears throat] this is certainly the most I have ever done with a project. Um, you know, I I

24:44

24 minutes, 44 seconds

first stepped foot in like a recording studio and on a stage I think I was

24:51

24 minutes, 51 seconds

21 or 22. Um, in my local scene, um, I grew up in Columbus, Ohio. Um, and so

24:59

24 minutes, 59 seconds

like I was doing a couple of things where I I always joke that I was like the Fergie of my scene where like it was

25:05

25 minutes, 5 seconds

a a very maledriven scene, right? And so like there were many bands where I would just get up and do like a couple lines

25:12

25 minutes, 12 seconds

of a song with or whatever as dude bands, right? Yeah. [laughter] Especially in the early Yeah. That was like the thing, right?

25:21

25 minutes, 21 seconds

It's like I've done that a couple times. It's kind of fun, you know? Add a little flavor.

25:26

25 minutes, 26 seconds

But if that's all that they're letting you do, it's kind of like, okay, hold on.

25:30

25 minutes, 30 seconds

Correct. Correct. Um but yeah, that was like something that I was doing, you know, at that age and and growing with a

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25 minutes, 38 seconds

little bit. Um and then I met um who is now my ex-husband and music was kind of,

25:47

25 minutes, 47 seconds

you know, ripped ripped out of my hands for many, many years. Um, and then I think in like 2016 or 17,

25:55

25 minutes, 55 seconds

Natt was writing one of our solo albums and you were stuck on Harmony or something like that. And I remember sending like why don't you try

26:03

26 minutes, 3 seconds

this? And I voice I like played it on my computer and voice recorded it with my phone and like sent it back like try this and you were like cool. And then

26:12

26 minutes, 12 seconds

like a month later, you were like, "I need you and part [laughter] two to make your word back vocals on my album next month." And I was like, "Sorry, what?"

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26 minutes, 21 seconds

[laughter] So, um, yeah, that was your first that was feral. That was your first album. So, did y'all know each other before then or

26:28

26 minutes, 28 seconds

you just like there was a call on social media for vocals or what? [laughter] We were like, we knew each other the way that most people did in those days,

26:36

26 minutes, 36 seconds

which is I guess what people still do, like a lot larger through social media and stuff. Yeah, you know, knew each other that way. So,

26:44

26 minutes, 44 seconds

you know, she was already, you know, a friend of mine in my life, but we lived in totally different places. So, um but yeah, it just kind of spun downhill. And

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26 minutes, 53 seconds

I think with your last solo album 20 right after the pandemic when you um had that tour with Frank Turner, I was on the road

27:02

27 minutes, 2 seconds

with you for that. And that's when like that was the most we'd ever done on stage together. And it was like, oh, something is

27:08

27 minutes, 8 seconds

this is like a thing that we should Yeah, you know, push the snowball down the hill and see kind of what happens. And so

27:16

27 minutes, 16 seconds

here we ta and it's working. Your two voices together because that's not always the case, you know.

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27 minutes, 23 seconds

But like it's like a beautiful um cuz obviously they don't sound the same and they shouldn't

27:30

27 minutes, 30 seconds

uh that'd be boring and so but they blend really well and it's really nice. Thank you.

27:36

27 minutes, 36 seconds

I'm saying that like you write pop songs. It's like this is [ __ ] punk rock. I Oh, it's so nice. Um, no. Like,

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27 minutes, 41 seconds

[laughter] no, it's tough. Like, [ __ ]

27:42

27 minutes, 42 seconds

you. Um, no, it sounds what I'm trying to say.

27:46

27 minutes, 46 seconds

I'm a I'm a I'm a fan of Let's be told she's pretty in any way all the time. So, [laughter] and I love a catchy book. So, Right. Yeah. Yeah. Me, too. Me, too.

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27 minutes, 58 seconds

Well, I'm so pretty. [laughter] Well, you are so pretty and so are all of us and we all have really great glasses on and we should be models for eyewear in my opinion. Um, [ __ ] real.

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28 minutes, 10 seconds

But, uh, and I guess to pursue our modeling careers, we should stop this podcast. So, how about we end with where people can find you online? What's

28:18

28 minutes, 18 seconds

coming up next for you? [laughter] What's coming up next for you? What should people know? Blah blah blah.

28:26

28 minutes, 26 seconds

Yeah.

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28 minutes, 28 seconds

We have an album coming out August August what? 6th.

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28 minutes, 32 seconds

August 6th, the full album will come out. Um, and then in September we start our US tour for the album release.

28:44

28 minutes, 44 seconds

September 10th is I think that's the the Philly date. That's when we start.

28:50

28 minutes, 50 seconds

And then in October we start our European tour for the album as well. And then we'll just sort of see what

28:58

28 minutes, 58 seconds

happens. We're, you know, it's um we're really stoked. We're playing Riot Fest on the on the US tour and um we're doing that Frank Turner um what's it called?

29:10

29 minutes, 10 seconds

Lost Evenings. Lost Evenings.

29:11

29 minutes, 11 seconds

Oh, tell him hi on that as well.

29:14

29 minutes, 14 seconds

H Tell them hi.

29:17

29 minutes, 17 seconds

Oh, hi. I will. Sorry. I was like like right now. Right right now. Thanks.

29:23

29 minutes, 23 seconds

I I can text them right now if if that's what we're doing. But no, I can text them too, you know.

29:27

29 minutes, 27 seconds

I'm just being cute. I'm just being cute. Just tell them hi. [laughter] Tell him we said hi. No big deal. Um, all right. So, you got a lot of touring in

29:35

29 minutes, 35 seconds

support of this new album that we're all very excited to hear. That sounds great.

29:40

29 minutes, 40 seconds

That's a great way to end this hellscape of a year and hopefully go out on a high note for real and then have some welldeserved rest.

29:50

29 minutes, 50 seconds

We'll see. I don't know what that is, but what is this rest you think of?

29:55

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[laughter]

29:55

29 minutes, 55 seconds

I'm trying to find out myself. Um, thank you both so much for joining me uh and talking about body count today. Thank you.

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30 minutes, 6 seconds

{Thank you, Natasha and Becky.}

OUTRO:

Thank you Natasha and Becky! So cool to learn more about this song, their writing process, and all the fun stuff they’re gonna do this year. Keep listening to hear The Iron Roses song “Body Count” in full. 

You can support this podcast by liking my youtube channel, and sharing, subscribing, and reviewing But Her Lyrics... Wherever you get your podcasts - it’s free and it helps. To find episode transcripts, or to find out more about what I do, my book, my trainings, my patreon, head to shawnapotter.com

To learn about all things WOW, like our European tour in August, and A NEW FUCKING ALBUM CALLED TIME UNDER TENSION! Get all the deets at linktr.ee/waronwomen.

If you want to support my work, or anyone that might deal with harassment in public spaces, now is a great time to sign up for the Safer Spaces: Online Course which you can preview or sign up for at shawnapotter.com so head there now and… may your ice coffee always be crispy when you shake it.

BONUS MOMENT:

Fake goodbyes, laptop screen reflections in our glasses, leaving notes around europe, heat of europe tour, real goodbye. 

BODY COUNT by The Iron Roses

(the body) your possession

(the count) forced submission

(the body count) grows off the backs of murdered women

Ask me bout my body count, fuck around, let's find out

Sewn up eyes, six feet down

Shhh, don't make a sound

Don't be a prude, don't be a slut

Drop to your knees, don't interrupt

Ignore that feeling in your gut

Close off your mind and learn how to trust

You can trust us

(the body) your possession

(the count) forced submission

(the body count) grows off the backs of murdered women

Don't look now he likes it rough

Take an inch thats enough

Kiss me babe, take a bow

Huh, who's crazy now

So fuck you too, and take it deep

I'm not the one, ain't losing sleep

No love lost, another soul

Another woman you can’t control

There's no control

(the body) your possession

(the count) forced submission

(the body count) grows off the backs of murdered women